Banks did use his Fender Jaguar as his primary guitar for the end leg of the Our Love to Admire tour and was also seen using a Gibson ES-135 for songs such as "Not Even Jail", but since the 2010 tour leg, he has not been since using the Jaguar or Gibson ES-135 and has only been since using his traditional Les Paul, though the Flying V can be seen in the music video for "Barricade" with the tape no longer present.

Banks released a solo album under the name Julian Plenti on 4 August 2009 entitled Julian Plenti Is... Banks claims to have multiple solo projects and monikers in mind.

He released a five song EP entitled Julian Plenti Lives... During Interpol's early years, Banks typically played a black Les Paul Custom guitar.

He then started using a Fender Jaguar and a Gibson Flying V (for a time with the word "breasts" spelled out in white tape on it) for songs from Our Love to Admire and his Les Paul for songs from Antics and Turn on the Bright Lights, although some songs like "Obstacle 1" were played with Banks' Fender Jaguar because of the impracticality of switching and songs like "Mammoth" were recorded using his Les Paul for the same reason.

Banks joined the band in the summer of 1997 when he ran into Daniel Kessler, whom he had met on a study abroad program in Paris.

When asked to join Interpol, Banks initially refused, but after listening to the type of music they were writing, he joined.

Banks has said that he does not try to emulate his greatest influences because he thinks he cannot live up to them, saying "I would never try to sing like Frank Black or Kurt Cobain because you just can't do it".

Paul Julian Banks (born ) is an English-American musician, singer, songwriter, and DJ.

He is best known as the lead vocalist, lyricist, and guitarist of the rock band Interpol. Skyscraper in August 2009 under the name Julian Plenti.